RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION.
Motive of the Massacres--Primarily Political, then Religious--The
Religious Element Overpowering the Political--Dread of Christian
Domination--False Statements by the Turkish Government--Instances
of Persecution and Enforced Conversion to Islam--A Tremendous Moral
Disaster--Efforts of the Government to Suppress Reports.
The previous chapters have been confined chiefly to the physical
aspects of the massacres. There has been, however, another side that
is even more appalling, and that is the moral and religious disaster.
The question is often asked whether this is a religious persecution.
The question is not an altogether easy one to answer. From one point of
view it is purely religious, from another, purely political. The truth
probably is, that in the East the two are so inseparably associated
that it is impossible to distinguish accurately between them. To the
Moslem, every Christian is either a slave or an enemy, to be taxed for
service or to be destroyed. So long as the Armenians made no effort for
political power, they were slaves; the moment they showed hostility
to or impatience with Moslem rule, they became enemies. It made no
difference whether that hostility was actual or not; if it had any
existence in the minds of the Turks the result was the same. It is
unquestionable that there was a widespread belief among the Turks that
Moslem rule was in danger, not merely from the revolt of the Armenians,
but from the assistance assured, as they believed, to the Armenians by
the European Powers. Hence, first of all, their hostility was directed
against them, and so far it was distinctively political. They began
to realize, however, that murder, pure and simple, was not going to
accomplish their purpose. How was it to be done? There was only one
other method--forced conversion. What this means, no one who has not
had some personal knowledge of Mohammedan lands can fully imagine. To
the political hate and savage desire for plunder was added the ferocity
of Moslem propaganda. Any one who has read in history the record of
religious persecutions can form a faint conception of what that means,
but to understand to the full is given to few people. At the risk of
occasional repetition we give some instances of the manifestation of
this destructive religious character of the massacres. It will be
noticed that parallel with forced conversion has gone the outraging
of women. So long as the chief idea seemed to be the suppression of a
supposed political revolt, or the looting of property, this was not
so noticeable. The moment, however, that religious fanaticism came to
the front, the most brutal sensuality was made manifest. A significant
comment on Mohammedanism.
“At Chunkush, in the province of Diarbekir, there were 6,000 Armenian
Christians. On the 4th of November, the first attack was made and the
town was partially pillaged. On the 8th, 11th and 14th of November,
these attacks on the Christian houses were repeated. The Protestant
church, school and parsonage, and many other buildings were burned by
the Turks. 880 Armenians were butchered, and the remainder were forced
to accept Mohammedanism at the point of the sword.
“In Palu, in the same province, in the month of August, the governor
called upon the Christian notables and told them that he had received
orders to tell them that the Sultan had decided to introduce reforms,
but that the reforms would be with the sword. This speech reported to
the British Embassy at the time, led to the removal of the governor. On
the 5th of November, this town was plundered by the Kurds and Turkish
troops with but little shedding of blood. On the 11th of November,
the attacking force returned, and out of a total Christian population
of 2,400 they slaughtered 1,580 souls. The Protestant chapel was
demolished, and the school and parsonage were taken as barracks for the
troops. On the 10th of December, but 300 Christians were left in Palu,
and they were at the point of perishing with hunger. The government
issued bread to keep them alive, but the public ovens refused to sell
to Christians. The policy seemed to be to keep the people at the point
of deepest misery, in order to force them to become Mohammedans. The
distribution of bread by the government consisted of the filling of
several baskets with pieces of bread and emptying the baskets into
the street for the people to scramble for the bread. A number of
Christian families, driven by hunger, fled to the city of Harput, about
thirty-five miles away, where there is a Governor-General. They hoped
that this high Turkish official would at least give them protection and
bread to eat, since it had been announced that the government intended
to feed all the suffering ones. On arrival at Harput, however, they
were bitterly disappointed. They were simply put under arrest and sent
back to starve at Palu. At Severek, in the province of Diarbekir, out
of a Christian population of 2,900, nearly all of the males, in all
750 persons, were killed. This left the authorities free to regard all
the women and children as Moslems, and they were distributed among the
Mohammedan populace to be taken into their houses.
“At Urfa, after the massacre and pillage which took place on the 27th
and 28th of October, the police went around from house to house in the
Christian quarter announcing that the people must accept Mohammedanism.
They carried axes to break open the doors. All who refused they killed
on the spot. Those who accepted the offer were required to put white
turbans on their heads and to hang white flags on their houses. The
number of white flags displayed seemed innumerable after three days
of this sort of work. Shortly after this a storm arose which carried
away many of the white flags. They were not renewed, since the people
understood that the government would not recognize these forced
conversions. But on the 28th and 29th of December, these people were
attacked by the Turks and over 1,500 of them were killed as apostates
from Islamism. At Albistan, in the same province, after the massacre
began, the people were overpersuaded by the assurance that all the
Christians in the empire were being killed, and nearly the whole
Christian population accepted Mohammedanism on this representation.
“At Adiaman, in the province of Harput, on the other hand, the same
story was used without effect, and out of the Christian population of
800, only 20 were left alive. At Husenik, in the province of Harput,
the Armenian priest was tortured to force him to become a Mohammedan.
On his persistent refusal, and while he was still living, his body was
obscenely mutilated, and at last the poor man found rest in death. The
Protestant preacher in this village and a large number of the people
accepted Mohammedanism in order to escape the fate inflicted upon
this martyred priest. At Gamirgab, in the same province, after the
Turks and Kurds had pillaged all the Christian houses, they burned 70
houses which could be fired without endangering the Turkish houses,
and removed doors and windows from the remainder so as to render
them uninhabitable. The head master of the government school in the
place, one Ali Effendi, then called the Christians together, and told
them he would order them massacred at once if they did not accept
Mohammedanism. The people accepted the new religion, but appealed for
relief to their bishop at Egin. On demand of the bishop, the governor
ordered that these new converts should be released from their promise
of conversion, and now the people live in hourly fear of massacre as
apostates from the Mohammedan faith.
“At Arabkir, in the province of Harput, on the 6th of November,
Turkish civilians aided by soldiers suddenly made an attack upon the
Armenian shops in the market. Arabkir had an Armenian population of
about 18,000, and a Turkish population of about 30,000. When the
Turks began to attack the Armenian houses, the Armenians resisted.
Then the authorities called in Kurds from the surrounding region and
made a systematic destruction of the Christian quarters of the city.
The horrible work lasted six days, and at the end of that time 4,000
Christians had been killed, and 2,750 Christian houses had been burned.
Many of the survivors accepted Islamism in order to escape. All alike,
however, were stripped of everything they had in the world, and in some
cases even of their clothing. The narrative of one of the survivors, an
entirely trustworthy woman, gives a vivid impression of the horror of
the experience: “On the 5th of November, our Turkish neighbors, with
whom we have always been on good terms, came to tell us that orders
had come to kill the Christians, but that seeing our house was next to
theirs they would like to help us, and that if we would pay them for
it they would defend us. After some bargaining it was agreed that we
should pay them $25.00 for the service. This was not easy to find, but
we gathered all the money that we had and what jewels we possessed, and
so satisfied them. On Tuesday the massacre began by an attack upon the
market and then upon the houses. The roar of the firing and the shrieks
of the women were awful, but our friends defended us. That night there
was no sleep for us, for the attacks on the houses and the firing kept
up all night. The next morning our Turkish friends said to us: ‘We have
fulfilled our promise, but the massacre is still going on, and we can
defend you no longer unless you become Moslems. Otherwise you will all
be killed.’ The firing was going on all the time and houses were being
set on fire, and the smoke made it seem as if the end of the world had
come. I fell on my knees before my father, who was the only man in our
household of nine people, and begged him not to swerve from his faith
in Jesus Christ. He rebuked me for thinking such a thing of him. We all
prayed for help and waited to see what would come. That day my father
was killed, but they did not kill us because we were only women. But
they made us go for three days into a house with a great many other
women, while they robbed our house of everything. They did not burn
the house because their own house would have burned also. After they
had taken everything from our house, they let us go back into it, and
thought themselves very kind for doing so. Crowds of our friends who
were left without shelter came to the house, and we have about 50
people in every room, all without bedding and all without food. What is
to become of us?”
“At Tadem, in the same province, out of 1,800 Armenians 270 were
killed. The survivors escaped only by accepting Mohammedanism. Two
Armenian priests were killed, one after shameful mutilation. Of the
outrages on women there is no use in trying to keep account. They are
universal and hardly attract attention. At Tadem, a Turkish notable was
selling Christian women to Turks and Kurds in exchange for horses and
donkeys, as long as a month after the massacre. He also kept a certain
number of Christian women whom he presented for the night to any police
or soldiers who passed through the village on their rounds. The same
atrocious practice is reported from other places also.
“In the provinces of Harput and Diarbekir alone, over 8,000 Armenian
houses have been burned, and more than 15,000 Christians are known
to have been killed, while every day adds to the list. Fifty or more
Armenian ecclesiastics are known to have been killed for refusing to
accept Mohammedanism, and the list of martyrs among the Protestant
pastors has risen to twenty. Some of these are among the best and most
influential men in the Protestant community. In connection with this
subject one incident may be mentioned. At Cesarea, in the province
of Angora, on the 30th of November, 600 Christians were murdered by
the Turks of the city. In one of the Protestant houses of the city a
father and his little daughter, twelve years of age, were alone, the
mother having gone to visit a married daughter before the massacre
began. A fierce-looking Turk suddenly burst into the room where the
little girl was sitting. He spoke to the child in as kind a voice as
he could command. ‘My child,’ said he, ‘your father is dead because
he would not accept the religion of Islam. Now I shall have to make
you a Mohammedan, and if you will agree to it I will take you to my
house and you will have everything that you want, just as if you were
my daughter. Will you become a Mohammedan?’ The little girl replied:
‘I believe in Jesus Christ. He is my Saviour. I love him. I cannot do
as you wish, even if you kill me.’ Then the ruffian fell upon the poor
child with his sword and slashed and stabbed her in twelve different
places. What followed no one knows. The house was pillaged and burned
and the body of the father was burned in it. But that evening a cart
was brought by a Turkish neighbor to the house in another part of
the city where the mother of the little girl was staying. The Turk
said to her, ‘I have brought you the body of your little girl. You
are my friend and I could not leave it. I am very sorry for what has
happened.’ The mother took the body of the little girl into the house,
and found that there was still life in it. A surgeon was summoned.
He restored the child to her senses, and she is now in a fair way to
recovery.
“Another indirect method of destroying the Christian communities
in these provinces must be referred to. As if for the purpose of
destroying self-respect and the grounds of religious hope, a systematic
course of debauching Christian women has been kept up in some of these
provinces. At Tamzara, in the district of Sharka Kara Hissar, in the
province of Sivasall, the men were killed in the massacres early in
November. From a well-to-do Armenian population of 1,500, all that
remain are about 300 starving and half-naked women and children.
Trustworthy information from this place, dated the twenty-fourth of
January, says that the most horrible feature of the situation of these
women is, that passing Mohammedan soldiery or civilian travelers attack
them and outrage them in their houses without hesitation and without
restraint. This license has been observed toward these wretched women
during all of the three months since the massacres.
“Information from Mezreh, the seat of government in the Province of
Harput, dated the twenty-seventh of January, says that the same license
to abuse Christian women exists in that province also. Within sight
and hearing of the Governor-General’s palace, Mohammedan young men
have broken into Christian houses by night and worked their infernal
pleasure upon the women of the houses. It is not once or twice that
this thing has happened, but it is week after week, until the women are
reduced to the condition of public prostitutes without will of their
own.”
In view of such facts, it is scarcely surprising that a missionary
wrote as follows:
“The world will have heard of the physical side of the disasters which
have come upon this country. The moral aspect is still more deplorable.
When the Saracens conquered these lands, they offered the people the
alternatives of the Koran, tribute or the sword. These Moslems first
strip the people of everything, commit other nameless outrages, and
then the only alternative presented is Islam or death; and this in the
nineteenth century. Hundreds of people have accepted martyrdom rather
than deny their faith. Many more, some from fear of death, and others
to save their families from a fate worse than death, have formally
accepted Mohammedanism. In most of the villages and towns in this
region, the majority of the survivors who were not able to flee, are
now professed Moslems. Throughout all this wide Harput mission field,
there is probably scarcely a Christian service held among Gregorians or
Protestants outside of this quarter of the city. Although the church
here was burned, our Sunday services have been maintained in the
college. Churches have become mosques, and the trembling Christians
are taught to pray after the Mohammedan form. Schools, of course, are
disbanded, although we are gathering together the boys of our male
department at the college; and we hope to do the same for girls if we
can secure rooms outside, as the girls’ college is a complete ruin.
“Every day, from morning till night, our hearts are torn by the
recital of the most horrible tales of bloodshed and outrage and
heartless persecution. Some of our best and worthiest men tell of
the agony which they suffer from the position which they hold as
Mohammedans in form, while their whole being revolts against it.
They say: ‘We would welcome martyrdom with cruel torture, if only
our wives and children could be saved from the clutches of these
men by death or by some sort of freedom. We have gladly surrendered
our homes to the flames and our property to plunder; but we cannot
sacrifice our families.’ Here is a very serious problem. Of course we
cannot justify this position; and yet, when we see the fate of many of
these helpless families, bereft of their protectors, it is not in our
hearts to reproach those who have saved their lives by this hypocrisy.
Either alternative is dreadful; and to stand in the presence of such
calamities so utterly helpless, except to cry to God in the agony of
our hearts, is a trial which we never expected to experience.
“Of course, we cannot tell what the outcome will be. We believe that
God has a people here, and that in some way, out of all this ruin,
he will rebuild his Church; but at present the outlook is dark in
the extreme. Many of the churches, parsonages and schools have been
destroyed, how many we do not know, for the country is in such a state
that traveling is very unsafe and reports come in slowly. We know
that seven of our pastors and six preachers have been killed, and we
may hear of still others. Few of the preachers remain at their posts.
Not only would they be put under a pressure to accept Islam, but they
are hated because they are understood to be promoters of freedom
of thought. Then, too, where their congregations are recognized as
Mohammedans, their presence among them would not be tolerated.”
As these facts have been spread abroad, a storm of indignation has
arisen over the entire Christian world, such that even the Turks
dared not disregard it, and accordingly, “early in January the local
officials of the provinces of Harput and Diarbekir sent orders to the
recently ‘converted’ villages, on no account to admit, in case they are
asked, that they were forced to become Mohammedans. The people were
informed that death would be the penalty for any complaint respecting
the compulsion used to force them to accept Mohammedanism. There are
15,000 of these forced converts in the province of Harput alone, and
about 40,000 of them in the whole region devastated by the massacres.
If the European Powers would send a commission through the provinces to
learn the real facts, they could easily verify these statements, and if
they could let the people know that they would not be betrayed to the
Turks, they would find that these people are pleading for relief from
the servitude to a hated religion into which they have been forced.
If the Powers could demand of the Ottoman Government the issue of a
proclamation condemning these military conversions, and giving the
victims of them liberty to return to their own faith without incurring
the death penalty which has now been pronounced against them, the mass
of the people would gladly return to the Armenian Church.
“Information from several points in the provinces of Sivas, Harput,
Diarbekir, Bitlis and Van, shows that the process of forcing
Christians to become Mohammedans is still actively used. Week by week
the Christian population is warned that all who have not accepted
Mohammedanism are to be massacred. Every Friday is a day of terror
for the Christians in all of these provinces. Constant pressure is
exerted to induce people in despair to deny their faith. In the country
districts neither priest nor pastor dare venture out of their hiding,
for they would be instantly killed as men who would interfere with
the conversion of the people. In the villages, Christian worship is
generally prohibited throughout the six provinces of the reform scheme.
In twenty-eight villages in the district of Harput, there had been, at
last accounts (January 30, 1896), no Christian worship since the first
of November. This abolition of Christian worship among a Christian
people is simply a part of the purpose to abolish Christianity.”
We close this chapter with a few illustrations drawn from places well
known, and in regard to which there can be no possible question:
“Saturday evening, November 2d, the inhabitants of Kutturbul, just
across the Tigris, east of Diarbekir, took refuge from the Kurds in the
large stone church of the Jacobite Syrians, to which they had already
moved their household goods. Fugitives from three other villages, which
had been attacked the day before, had also taken refuge here, so the
church was packed with goods and people. That night the Kurds, with
some men from Diarbekir, surrounded the church and began to shoot into
the high, narrow windows by which it is lighted. Aboshe Jacob, pastor
of the Protestant church of the village, was the first one struck,
but his wound was not serious, and he kept on his feet, giving such
comfort as he could to his distressed companions. Seeing little effect
from their efforts to dislodge the people and get at the booty, about
midnight the Kurds tore up part of the vaulted roof, and first throwing
in firebrands through the opening, then poured kerosene down upon the
blaze, at the same time firing their guns into the defenseless crowd of
men, women and children. A frantic rush was made for the door; but it
was locked, and could be opened only with the key from the outside. As
is the case with most of the old churches, in order to prevent their
desecration by being used as stables for horses, the door was very
small, only some four and a half feet high by two and a half feet wide.
After much effort it was finally broken open, and the smoke-stifled,
flame-scorched, terror-stricken crowd poured out from the narrow
egress, only to meet a deadly shower of bullets from the surrounding
Kurds.
“Among the crowd was Pastor Jurjis Khudhershaw Anteshalian, a graduate
from our Theological Seminary in 1868; for some years pastor of the
church in Mosul, later engaged in evangelical work in Egypt, whence he
had but recently come to visit relatives. As he came out he was at once
recognized by his beard and intelligent face as one of the clergy, and
was seized, thrown down and clubbed. One of the books which had been
scattered about by the marauders was thrust into his mouth, and he was
mockingly called upon to read the church service. Firebrands were then
thrown upon him, and as, restored to partial consciousness by the pain,
he began to crawl away, he was clubbed again, drawn back and burned to
ashes.
“The next to suffer was Pastor Hanoosh Melki, of Karabash, three hours
east of Kutturbul; a classmate of Pastor Jurjis, an earnest worker, and
especially efficient as an evangelist. He was ordained and installed
pastor of the Karabash church at the time of its organization, but
had resigned, and was expecting a call to the church in Sert, which
was then on the way to him. Kurds attacked the village Saturday
afternoon, November 2d, but were repulsed; and that night most of
the unarmed villagers took refuge in the large buildings erected
around the outskirts of the village for dovecots. Having received
large reinforcements during the night, the Kurds renewed the attack
at daybreak Sunday, in spite of a cold, driving rain which had set
in, and, getting possession of the village toward noon, began their
horrible work of pillage, burning and slaughter. As soon as Pastor
Hanoosh, in the dovecot where his family and many others had taken
refuge, knew that the village had been taken, he tried to open the
small door opposite one at which the Kurds were already trying to force
an entrance. Before he could get it open they broke in, and he was
the first to meet them. Judging from his beard that he was the priest
of the village, they supposed he, of course, would have a large sum
of money with him, He only had some bread, and taking a loaf from his
bosom he gave it to one of them. They were enraged at this, yet would
have spared him had he but raised one finger in token of acceptance of
Islam. Refusing to do this, he was struck down by a sword and killed
before the eyes of his wife and children. His body was then stripped
and his family plundered.
“The third to fall was Hanna Sehda, son of one of the first pastors, a
member of our last theological class, and a preacher of much promise.
After graduating in 1890, he ministered for a time to the Sert Church,
of which his father had formerly been for a long time pastor. He
refused its urgent and oft-repeated call to become its pastor, and
had been for only a few months with the Karabash church, which liked
him much and had just built a parsonage for him. That Sabbath morning
he led his wife, a graduate of our Girls’ High School, and their
three little children out of the dovecot, where, with many others,
they had taken refuge the night before, and fled to a village half an
hour away, which had already been plundered, and where they thought,
for a time at least, they might be safe. Benumbed with the cold and
rain, they were glad to find in one of the vacant houses a supply of
fuel--cowdung mixed with straw, and made up into large cakes--and soon
had a comfortable fire. Here they were joined by Pastor Hanoosh’s widow
and children and others. Toward sunset a roving band of Kurds came upon
them as they were grouped around the fire, and stripped them of most
of what was still left them. Later, another band came, and, enraged
at finding nothing left for them to plunder, turned upon the men.
These, seeing that the Kurds meant to kill them, rushed out, and made
their escape in the darkness, though fired upon. Hanna had taken his
two little boys out with him, but finding he could not get away with
them, he let go their hands and made off. Already faint with hunger
and stiff with cold, he could make but slow progress. So he was soon
overtaken by the Kurds, to whom he refused to yield by accepting Islam
to save his life. The last seen of him by one of his church-members as
he looked back in his flight, he was extending his arms to ward off
the sword-blow which hewed him down, after which a gun was discharged
into his body. A few days after, one of his congregation, compelled by
Moslems to go to the village where he was killed, saw that his body
had been burned. His baby girl and youngest boy died that night from
exposure, while the elder boy and his fair-looking mother were led away
into captivity, from which, however, they were recovered later and are
now at her father’s house.
“The fourth victim was Pastor Aboshe, of Kutturbul, already mentioned
as the first one wounded in the church Saturday night before the
roof was broken in. He escaped through the broken door, and though
thrust with daggers as he passed out, made off in the darkness and
climbed a tree in which he stayed till near morning. Then he got down
stealthily, and made his way to a house in which cut straw was stored,
where he stayed hidden until Monday noon, when he felt sufficiently
revived to go out in search of his scattered family. He found them in
a deserted bath not far from their own house, his wife uninjured, one
child killed, a married daughter lying in a corner fatally wounded,
in attempting to protect her husband who was killed, the eldest son
severely wounded, while a younger daughter had been carried away
captive. They passed Monday night caring tenderly for the wounded
daughter, mourning over the captivity of the younger one, and praying
for deliverance from further woes. Tuesday a roving band of Kurds went
through the village to see if anything were still left to plunder,
and, finally coming to the yard of the bath-house, began to abuse some
of the pastor’s congregation who had gathered there, as it was a more
protected place than most. The pastor, overhearing them, went out to
try to persuade them to cease from further barbarities toward those
who had already suffered so much. Perceiving that he was a ‘spiritual
head,’ as the clergy are called, the Kurds at once called on him to
renounce his faith and embrace Islam. He fixed a steady gaze on them,
but said nothing. ‘Ha!’ said one, ‘see how the _kafir_ (infidel)
still holds stoutly to his faith.’ Another said to him: ‘Just raise
_one finger_ (this is accepted by them as a confession of _one God_:
Mohammed His prophet), and you will not be harmed.’ Instantly he calmly
replied: ‘I shall never raise my finger.’ Immediately a Kurd near him
made a thrust at him with a straight dagger, while another a little
farther away put a bullet through him, right in the presence of several
of his flock. His firm faith and bold confession of it in the presence
of death was the weightiest sermon they had ever heard from his lips.
He was the most scholarly and refined among all our native helpers.
He came of an educated, priestly family, and his grandfather was the
author of a grammatical work in ancient Syriac. Mr. Andrus’ first
sermon in Kutturbul years ago from the text, ‘Son, go work to-day in my
vineyard,’ was the means of his conversion and of bringing him later
into the ministry. Soon after graduating from the theological seminary
he became pastor of the church in his native village, Kutturbul, and
during his pastorate had erected a beautiful little chapel, the finest
in our field; now, alas! used as a sheepfold, while the adjoining
school building has been burned. Out of his congregation of 161 souls,
98 went with him into eternity, and of the 63 remaining, 18 of them are
wounded; most are scattered abroad--some of them we know not where.
Half of our pastors have fallen, ‘not accepting deliverance;’ half our
churches are scattered; one-third of our stations are destroyed. But
God _still reigns_ (Ps. 2). He is faithful and true, and His promises
_sure_. Pray with us that the desolate places may speedily be rebuilt;
that His Church, purified and quickened by this tempest of persecution,
may apply itself with fresh faith and zeal to His work; and that He
will shortly accomplish His purpose of grace for this land.”
[Illustration:
AFTER THE SLAUGHTER. Scene from an actual Photograph, showing how the
able-bodied defenseless Armenians were butchered in great numbers and
left where they fell.]
[Illustration:
BURYING THE ARMENIANS. A view of how thousands of the murdered
Armenians were buried in great trenches after the massacres.]